Hinder God?

God has been convicting me.  As we rolled through Thanksgiving week, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with my kids.  Then our first week back at school we have short days so, more free time with my kids.  We talked about God and prayer, did our little devotions, but did we do our structured discipleship?  Nope.  Bummer.  You know what God asked me?  Get ready and please don't shoot the messenger.  He asked me where my deepest love was placed, in Him or my kids.  Whoa.

I truly love the Lord and seek Him and try to do His will, but I also love my kids with every fiber of my being.  And, God has given them to me to bring up in His ways, to disciple them on the path He so clearly laid out for me.  It comes down to my own identity; do I find that in Christ or in my kids.  I am choosing Christ and take His challenge to model that to my kids and remain so thankful that He has entrusted them to me and that I get to have them in my house for this brief time.

I want everything I have ever blogged or written for my kids, but I need to be that conduit for God and not hinder His plan as I get caught up in shuttling, giggling, dancing, checking homework, and laughing.  Yes, all of that is great and has its place in our lives and He is in the midst, but I am striving to not lose sight of the short time I have with them to teach them His ways and His path.  Acts 11:17 spoke to me on this topic.  It says, "Therefore if God gave then the same gift that he gave to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?"  Now this was pointed at the church in conflict and confusion over the entrance of Gentiles into the kingdom of heaven.  However, as God's word is alive and relevant, it also spoke to me as a challenge in my discipleship journey with my kids.  Will I hinder God in my children's lives?  Or will I put them on a journey to somewhere rooted in Him?  By faith and by grace I will not be an hindrance.  Thank you Lord for your correction and strength.

By His Grace

Baseball Prayer

Little prayers, big prayers, it doesn't matter, just pray!  Our kids need to remember that God wants all of them, their hearts and their minds in all circumstances.  As I continually remind my kids to develop a prayer life, what has resonated most is the idea of just quickly saying Jesus before any situation.

This past weekend, Cole, my 10 year old son, was in the championship baseball game, which was amazing in and of itself since eight weeks ago the closest thing the team resembled was the Bad News Bears.  They led the whole game until the final inning when the other team pulled ahead, but we had the last at bat and Cole was the leadoff hitter.  As his Daddy/Coach gave him instruction and reassurance I could see the stress on his face.  As he stood by himself, waiting, I went to the fence, called him over and said, "Just do what you can do and when you step up to bat say, Jesus."  They did not win the game, but Cole got on base and when I asked him if he had prayed he said, "Yes, and I did it again on third.  It was calming." 

God wants our kids all the time.  Acts 7:5 says, "He didn't give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but He promised to give it to him as a possession."  God wants to be our possession, not our Sunday habit, not our nightly prayers, not a special time that we look forward to everyday.  He wants us to live and move and find our entire being in Him.  The more times our kids repeat Jesus during the day, the more often they are taking Him as a possession and learning to find their life in Him.  Even on the baseball field.

By His Grace

D2: Pray

As disciples of Jesus we are to be in relationship with Him.  What creates a relationship?  Conversation!  Conversation is a slow dying art with the constant technology in our world today.  But Jesus taught us to pray, so my second discipleship lesson for my kids was on prayer.  Using Story Thru the Bible I read the story found in Matthew 6:5-13 and Luke 11:1-13.  The disciples asked Jesus how to pray and He presented the Lord's prayer. 

We talked about what Jesus tells us about prayer and what His example of prayer looks like: Be clear, say what you mean, mean what you say, be honest, be authentic, don't be scared, these are all true conversation rules, right?  But as our kids lose the art of conversation, they may lose the art of prayer.  It is a discipline, a practice, something you have to learn.  So, I learned a cheat sheet many years ago that I shared with them.

Prayer can be created through the acronym ACTS: Adore, Confess, Thanks, Supplication (or ask for what you need).  My kids wrote this in their journals, along with our memory verse, then drew a picture of a phone, to remember to call God any and all the time.  If they develop a relationship through conversation with Him then they will seek what He has for them, thus fulfilling Luke 11:9, our memory verse.
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you."

So my challenge to them?  Each situation during the day, see if you can remember to say Jesus in your head and see if it changes your outlook in that situation?  Constant Prayer!

By His Grace

How's The Foundation?

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock.  The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house.  Yet, it did not collapse, because its foundation was on the rock."  (Matthew 7:24-25)  So, how's your foundation?

I read this story the other day and I was struck by the idea of a foundation.  In our houses, the foundation needs to be checked and inspected.  But do we inspect our spiritual foundation on a regular basis?  Are there cracks in our foundation?  Have termites begun to infest and eat away at it?  The awesome thing about attempting to be a proactive parent is, hopefully, our kids have started with a strong foundation; a belief in Christ and a home that models His commands.  But foundations are at risk daily.  Without care, they can decay.  A small sin, when given a little foothold, can eat away at the foundation until it is totally destroyed.  So, how do we help our kids first, realize their foundation and then, regularly inspect it?

As a beginning, they need to understand where they came from, what their origin is.  When Jesus was about to be arrested and the disciples were deciding whether to fight or not, He (Jesus) says something very poignant. ' "My kingdom is not of this world," said Jesus.  "If my kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews.  As it is, My kingdom does not have origin here."'  (John 18:36) 

Jesus' kingdom does not have its origin here.  Where do our kids believe their origin is, where they came from?  Mine believe their origin is in Redwood City, which is where they were physically born.  How do our kids shift their focus to believing their origin is in Jesus, in His kingdom.  Origins are found by consistent, persistent, grace-filled discipling.  Our kids need to know all that God has in store for them.  And that knowledge and shift of origin will come only through the reading of His word, praying, fellowship, and worship.  We, as parents, have the opportunity to put all of those items in our kids' paths and as they learn those spiritual disciples they are learning to inspect their foundations, to find where something may be out of order.  We know that Jesus is the cornerstone, the one the builders rejected, as it repeats in Luke 20:17.  On the whole idea of inspecting our foundations, I looked up the definition for cornerstone. 

Cornerstone:  Foundation Stone or Rock
First stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.

I love the last bit.  Think about it for a minute.  With Jesus as our cornerstone, He becomes the point that all other things in our lives reference to, which in turn determines our structure or the way we walk with Him and through this world.

Kids love Legos, at least mine do.  And they learn with stories and actions and illustrations.  So, take some Legos, or in the case of older children, have some graph paper and a pencil.  Have them start with a single square and then build or draw around it, the best building they can draw or build.  What would happen if that square was removed or decayed?  Would the structure stand?  That's what Jesus wants to be for them, that all important stone.

"So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. "  (Ephesians 2:19-21)  Our children need to develop the habits of spiritual disciplines just as we had and have to continue.  Have you always read your bible?  Gone to church?  Prayed?  Worshipped?  These all had to be learned in the some way, shape or form.  These, and only these, provide the foundation from which all other things in their life will build on and reference back to through the winds, rains and storms that are bound to come.
"Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.  What house will you build for Me?  What place will be My home?  (Isaiah 66:1-2)

By His Grace